And Liam, a sled-hockey player, dropped the puck for the ceremonial start of the scrimmage, as all the players and coaches gave him an ovation.

“Oh, that is … that’s a nice family,” Rangers coach John Tortorella said later. “It’s a family I’ve grown close to. And then, how the boys reacted … the thing with that stuff, that’s a minute or two out of the players’ time. That’s a lifetime experience for a kid like that and his family. So it was terrific. It was a lot of fun. A lot of fun.”

Liam stayed and watched the scrimmages with Tortorella and Adam Graves and others.

Flyers need to re-sign Voraceck and Simmonds. And that only gets them to 20 players, the minimum 20 man roster. All of their large cap hit forwards have NTCs and they don’t have enough depth beyond their top 6 D to start shipping out guys to clear space.

Caps need to re-sign Alzner and find a new backup unless they’re ready to go with just Neuvirth and Holtby. Also they traded their first for Brouwer, so I assume they’re going to sign him as well.

The Garden of Dreams is a top notch charity, and it’s tremendously tremendous to watch the Rangers, past and present, take part in these events that has such a positive impact on the lives of people in the community.

PHI could be on on Richards. Though, signing him would put them right up against the cap, and still Leino, Simmonds, Voracek with no contracts… and they still need a 7th D for the roster… I just believe it would take a lot of maneuvering to make Richards fit there.

Carp 1: Isn’t there value in an offer sheet if for no other reason than you’re dictating the terms of a contract going onto a conference opponent’s books? Even if you only bump them up $500K annually, that could be useful down the line.

Carp 2: My $400 t-shirts have far more clutch abilities than yours. Wear one of these to the store and you’re buying the right lawnmower on the first try. Guaranteed*.

Mister D, if you make an offer to Stamkos it has to be enormous. Then your own RFAs will use that against you in their negotiations. And the team you attack now might counter-attack and drive up the price of a Callahan or a Dubinsky or somebody down the road. You’re not going to get Stamkos, so don’t bother.

Btw, I agree, I always appreciated Jagr’s leadership in that he did not take shootout attempts. He probably practiced them repeatedly and knew the team would be better off w. others taking the s/o attempts. So he did what’s best for the team. Sometimes, real leadership is being able to recognize your own deficiencies and not hurt the team :)

While researching for my interview tomorrow, I came across this from a friend. If you’ve never seen the movie, shame! This is either Sather in front of Richards or me tomorrow. Either way, best scene ever.

Boy, if what Brooks is tweeting about what the owners want to impose in the next cba deal is true, next season may be the last NHL season we see for a long time. Bettman will have a very hard time convincing Donald Fehr of all people that the league is not making money. He also is going to have no credibility when he really got a lot of what he wanted in this CBA. But as always, the fans are the ones who will suffer. Too bad!

czech – The league is making money, but some owners aren’t. Bettman’s always talking about record ratings and crowds every season. I understand he is just doing that to try to promote how great the NHL is, but these things are actually true. He is gonna have a hard time.

why would anyone go to Buffalo to be honest? unless it’s all about $$$$$$$$$$. i dont get why Ehrhoff went from the Canucks to the Sabres to be honest. fantastic big city, hockey town, one of the best teams in the NHL, incredible talent…….i know Sally is from Buffalo, (i think?)….and i dont meant to hate on the city, but for me it’s a no brainer if comparing Canucks to Sabres and not taking into the account the slight monetary differences. and he’s German so family relocation is not a problem as they are all in Deutshland. side note, all of these moves will really test Ruff’s job security finally.

it is a similar feeling, but im actually excited for tomorrow. i want to have Richards. and I want to have Gagne or someone of that sort. i also want Feds back. all tomorrow. Prospal/Emmy/Gilly can wait a bit. cant believe Eklund actually said the Rangers made some really big offer to the Devils for Parise…there’s no way Parise is traded here unless both Cally and Duby are going the other way including some of our D men.

Eager also has a ring which I think is important and he is only 27. I am afraid that Sather throws
8 year 70 million @ Richards tomorrow. I have to say, Richards is certainly very fortunate the way things have shaken out. He may get offers from the Rangers,LA, Buffulo,,Toronto,Philthy, maybe even Tampa, and no one really else out there in his league to get offers. WOW!

Carcillo is like brashear. Beats the you know whAt out of one of our guys and slats signs him to big cash. Let’s say 1.8 per for four years. He will play like dung beatle to go along with the nine million a year we send to brichards. It’s gonna be a root canal tomorrow. ThAnk God I am hiking for this nonsense

by the way – don’t know how you feel about this but…
I hate the islanders – grew up in new york a rangers fan and the islanders were winning the cup, beating the rangers year in and year out. That said it is my favorite of the local rivalries. SO I hate players who refuse to sign there. I don’t want the islanders to fail and want them to stay on the island. great local rivalry and tradition. Players who say no and take less money elsewhere is carcillo. I feel bad that the greatest rivalry of my youth will be non-existant when they fold and move to Quebec or Kansas City. just my thoughts.
go rangers

I’d take Konopka in a minute over that piece of cooke Carcillo. He’s a big, dumb fighter, but he can kill a penalty, stir it up a bit, win draws, and fight so Prust doesn’t have to fight so much. Carcillo just takes bad penalties, the stupid piece of cooke.

ps, do you think anybody will go after that piece of carcillo Cooke this year?

guys – rangers have too many guys for the fourth line – i like weise better than any of those guys and he is home grown tough enough has scoring touch at least in the A. give him a chance before you sign a piece of carcillo like carcillo – trash is trash not treasure here

Orr – team toughness is not enough? – cannot waste a spot with a non-contributor – Konopka can fill a role and kill a penalty /take a faceoff – but I would rather fill spots with players in the system. weise may not be a heavyweight but how many times do the heavyweights actually go. i love hockey fights but the staged goon days are over – rangers need to fill the roster out with depth and skill – just my opinion

this team needs a first line center and a power play specialist – richards fits that description – i hope they sign him – i hope that is all they do this off season ufa-wise

I agree with orr about having those guys around to lighten prust’s workload if you will. I don’t mind prust having 15 or 20 fights a season, he just needs someone to fight the heavyweights instead of him!

I do remember him taking a lot of punches from Ott…like I said, he’s a tough kid….I just don’t think he should be fighting the goons of the League right now…I agree with Orr that we could use a tough guy with some skill…

Let’s all stop expecting the worst. How about we all change our mindset and start expecting the best? I For Byfuglien’s Sake, we’re the greatest city in the world with the greatest teams in the world. No more hoping for the best, expecting the worst carcillo; Expect the best. I expect Sather/Messier to add the right pieces at the right prices to make us better in the near and distant future! I’ll be eating Manhattan Clam Chowder with New York Cream donuts and a salad with New York Lettuce while following on the internet as our 2011-12 winners are built.

ha ha. Redden QB’s the Panthers PP to Top 5 in the league and he has a come-back season with 50 points and wins the Bill Masterton Award at the end of the season for “those who exhibited, to a high degree, the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey”

Thanks Spider. He’s really studying big time. Bought a GRE math book and is taking the practice tests. This weekend he’ll go online and do a full practice test, so i have to leave the house for a few hours.

I could be over Dubinsky if we got the better end of the deal, and I would prefer Dubi over Cogliano and Omark and whatever else. But he’s a good player, and I’d like him, Callaman, and a someone to be our second line for a long time.

I’m gonna go out and get one of those Little Caesar’s $5 hot and ready pizzas that they kept advertising behind the plate at the Mets-Tigers game at around 11 a.m. and be comfortably back at the computer for the festivities. Unemployment rules!

The people in the anti-richards camp are gonna be upset if we get him at any price

The people in the pro-richards camp are worried about length/term

But honestly, i dont think there are really any players out there this year that Sather could give a bogus contract to that doesnt deserve it. Richards is a #1 Center and WILL get 6-7.5 million like all the other upper-echelon players